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Divided Houses: The Hundred Years War III by Jonathan Sumption

With Divided Houses, Jonathan Sumption's majestic and highly praised history of the 100 years' war reaches its third volume, and with at least another volume still to come, probably two, the final work will run to something like 5,000 pages. As a feat of historical narrative, it will be up there with Runciman's Crusades, perhaps even Motley's Dutch Republic or Michelet's History of France. If you want a history of the 100 years' war, then this is it, and will surely remain it for decades to come.

The war was a painfully desultory and drawn-out dynastic struggle between England and France, which didn't even have the grace to last a neat 100 years but rambled on for 116. Some locate its origins as far back as the Norman conquest, which made William the Conqueror both king of England and, technically, as duke of Normandy, still a vassal of the king